


No Place Like Home

by PaddieCake



Series: Cold and Cruel, Self-Absorbed and Narcissistic [5]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Hargreeves being Hargreeves, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Implied/Referenced Prostitution, Reginald Hargreeves' A+ Parenting, Semi-Reliable Narrator, basically what the Hargreeves were up to back home, both mentioned in passing - Freeform, mad i forgot about that relationship tag i used
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:42:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26366641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaddieCake/pseuds/PaddieCake
Summary: Vanya, Diego, and Luther did not go to Hollywood.A brief look into the lives of the other Hargreeve Siblings (tm).
Relationships: The Hargreeves/Their Bullshit
Series: Cold and Cruel, Self-Absorbed and Narcissistic [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797274
Comments: 38
Kudos: 128





	1. Vanya

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was originally just going to be a one-shot involving Vanya, but then I decided to make this three chapters, making me a filthy liar.
> 
> Each chapter will be from their own perspective. 
> 
> If I need to add tags I will.

Vanya knew she and her siblings were never going to be close. She dealt with it by writing in a journal. It was cathartic to get her feelings on paper, and it felt like she was accomplishing something when she did.

She knew when they were young children and she wasn't allowed to play dolls with Allison and Klaus. She knew when Diego and Luther would get angry when she asked to train with them. She knew when Ben wanted nothing to do with her some days, when he would tell her she couldn't join missions. 

Even Five, her best friend, and the only person she could really talk to, left without saying a word to her. She knew that wasn't his fault, but it hurt.

So when she had reached out to Allison one day, when she found out her class was going to California so some of them could perform, she was so excited to know Allison _wanted_ to see her. And while she had to also see Klaus, it was worth it.

Vanya didn't _hate_ Klaus, she really didn't. He was her brother, and she knew, deep down, that if she needed help he would help her. But he took his life for granted and it bothered her, more than anyone else, really. He had siblings who didn't look at him like he was a burden, he had dad's attention, and _powers_ , and he took it all for granted. She didn't hate him, but she hated that he was wasting himself away with drugs. 

She hated that he threw everything he had. Couldn't understand how much she wished she had even a _fragment_ of the power he had. She wished she could see a ghost, _hear_ one. He was so willing to throw the _amazing_ things he had for… a high? Because he didn't care? Vanya never understood it.

And she didn't understand why Allison, who could, and did, have whatever she wanted, let Klaus leech off her the way he did. Because Vanya knew Klaus couldn't hold a job, there was no way. He couldn't even be a _superhero_ without throwing it away, so an actual job?

So, during their lunch when Klaus outright confirmed that he wasn't working, Vanya wasn't surprised. What did surprise her was how quick to defend him Allison was, even after all but saying Klaus was a _prostitute_. 

She hadn't realized his drug habit had gotten so bad, that he had to sell himself for them. Vanya glanced at Allison, not sure how to feel about that. 

And then she had to sit there and listen to Allison talk about a movie she wasn't even allowed to know the name of. Or, more likely, she didn't want to tell Vanya.

She wasn't remotely surprised to learn Allison used her powers to get her job, or anything else for that matter.

"It'll be great to be recognized for something other than the Umbrella Academy, you know? Fighting crime isn't exactly glamorous."

Vanya glanced down at the table, frowning at it. Considering they were constantly praised for fighting crime, Vanya didn't get it. Vanya _always_ wished she could join them, and she didn't know how pretending to fight in a movie could even compare.

  
  


She was starting to feel anxious, but she didn't want to take her pills. She always felt so judged when she did. It spiked when Klaus came back, but all he did was sit down, and she tried to relax. 

Conversation flowed a bit, until Vanya stupidly asked if Klaus had a job, she was completely unsurprised when he said he just lost his. 

And then Ben was brought up, and Vanya felt _furious._ She had never blamed them for Ben's death, but Klaus was just claiming that he was there? 

She had asked Diego, not long after the funeral and before he left, if she should ask Klaus to conjure Ben.

He had told her that he couldn't, that the drugs messed with his powers. He was _very_ adamant about it. He had said something about not _wanting_ Klaus to conjure Ben, but Vanya couldn't imagine why he would say that. When she asked all he said was that she didn't want to know. 

Vanya knew he meant it wasn't any of her business.

But she tried to explain to Allison that Klaus couldn't see Ben, but it just pissed Klaus off. She left after that, angry and hurt that they would even bring him up like that. 

She did agree to try and keep in contact with Allison, and she took one of her pills. 

Life went on. She graduated from school with slightly above average grades, and got work in a local orchestra. 

She was able to keep up with Allison for a little while, but their conversations soon fizzled out, mostly because Allison constantly talked about herself, and seemed uninterested in anything Vanya had to say. 

Vanya didn't really have much to say.

But she felt a twinge every time Allison, and occasionally Klaus, were mentioned in the media. Allison slowly rose to fame and stardom, beloved by the country.

Klaus, at first, mostly seemed known only for his drug use, which was completely unsurprising. But something changed. Allison's sky rocketing into stardom made sense, but slowly and steadily Klaus gained traction. At least Vanya assumed so, because one day she heard some of her bandmates talking about how 'The Séance won an Oscar'. 

Vanya was positive Allison had something to do with it. Drug addicted, alcoholic Klaus couldn't do that on his own. 

She felt validated when she finally read an article about it. Allison had gotten Klaus the job in the first place. She had to wonder how Allison _didn't_ win.

She wondered if she'd be reading about a misread in the next few days. 

She hadn't.

She was surprised. 

She continued writing in her journal, and each day she felt closer and closer to turning it into a book. Why shouldn't she get her story out there, after all? Everyone knew everything about her siblings, but she had accomplishments. She graduated college, and was slowly ranking higher with each new audition, and she was a shoo-in for third chair. Writing a book would be another accomplishment, something for her siblings to maybe be proud of her for. 

So she started writing.

But as she wrote each word became bitter, and angry. She hadn't meant for it to happen, but she had the right to be upset, didn't she? Constantly pushed aside, treated as _lesser_. Because she didn't have powers? 

But she was one of the most accomplished! Diego was a failed cop, and Luther was stuck at home, still listening to dad instead of helping people on his own terms. And she didn't have to Rumor her way into work or accolades. She got where she was on her own talents.

Then there was The Wedding. The Wedding Vanya couldn't go to, The Wedding that everyone else would be able to go to, but she couldn't. Once again, little Number Seven left out. 

She was _angry_ , and anxious, and upset! It was the same day as her third-chair audition. Vanya couldn't miss it, and she had tried to get Allison to change the wedding date, but she couldn't get through to her. She had sent a few emails, but they must have been being screened, no one ever responded to her emails.

She didn't care if it seemed bitter, she pulled the trigger and sent her manuscript to the local publisher. 

In a month's time Vanya had her first book signing event. 

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeeyyyy I got this up earlier than expected. 
> 
> This is, basically 2/3rds written so the next chapter will be out tomorrow, and the day after for the third :).


	2. Diego

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diego is an idiot, but we love him

Diego didn't feel _bad_ about the argument he and Klaus had had, but he also didn't feel good. 

Neutral, maybe.

Or not-good.

Not-good worked.

Years of never explaining what his powers were like, but expecting Diego to be able to comfort him, years of subduing his powers with drugs, and _then_ the night after Ben's funeral Klaus comes to him near sobbing. He goes on about how downright _horrifying_ ghosts are, and how Ben's _there_ , and he's afraid Ben will end up like the others, screaming monsters who all seemed to have lost their humanity. 

It freaked Diego out. They sounded inhuman, and awful, and he hated thinking about it, hated thinking of Ben being like that. But he tried to comfort Klaus anyway. 

Except he kept bringing it up again. And again. Diego just... couldn't keep trying to help him deal with it, especially since Klaus was more content to drink his problems away rather than deal with them. And the way Klaus described the ghosts, drunk and high, rambling but so _scared,_ so Diego was scared too. And he was angry, and so they fought. Their relationship had been steadily getting worse, and Klaus was _mean_ when he was on certain drugs, and the changed dynamic led to arguments and insults. Klaus liked to blame him when he was angry, and Diego did much the same.

So, Diego left. Klaus was supposed to come with him, but Diego _needed_ a little time away from Klaus. He wanted to get a job, to find a place to live, maybe find a halfway decent rehab center.

He got two of the three, but when he went back to the Academy to get Klaus, he was already gone. 

Diego was pissed off that Klaus left to go across the country without telling him. And maybe by the time he _wasn't_ angry anymore, Klaus finally stopped trying to get in contact with him which just made him _angrier,_ because how could the asshole just _stop._ He had, at one point, tried calling the number he had for them, but it was disconnected. 

In the meantime he joined the police academy, but his 'outside the box' training, and 'unique' way of thinking he didn't make it. They said he was too reckless, got kicked out after knocking one of the other trainees unconscious during training. 

He did meet Eudora Patch in his time there, at least. And they tried to make it work, even with Diego's 'temper' and 'very illegal vigilantism, damnit Diego!' If Diego were honest, she was the best thing to ever happen to him.

He kept an ear out for Allison whenever he was near a television, and he bought stupid magazines to read about her. She was doing well which he supposed was good. Klaus was a little harder to keep track of. He seemed to float around Allison's atmosphere without really breaking into it. At first any mention of him in tabloids was in reference to Klaus being intoxicated in some way, but those stories faded away, and with them Diego lost track of what Klaus was up to.

Then one day while Eudora was watching a video on some tube related website, that was also television, somehow, he heard a _very_ familiar voice. He stopped blending his protein shake to watch with her. "What is this?"

"Oh, he does art tutorials! My sister, you know how she gets crafy sometimes, she likes to follow along with him when she's in one of her moods. He's pretty funny too." She said.

Diego nodded, eyes fixated on the screen. 

When he was alone in his apartment in the basement of the gym he worked in, he opened the link. It was undoubtedly Klaus. If he hadn't recognized his voice, or his stupid laughing, he would have recognized hand and Umbrella tattoos that flashed on screen. Klaus seemed to have added to them, judging by the moon and sun on the top of either hand.

The Umbrella Academy tattoo that could be seen on occasion was what _really_ made it obvious.

As he watched more videos Diego began reading through comments. Some of them were pretty positive, but a few seemed to have recognized Klaus for who he was, and who practically demanded that Klaus talk about the Umbrella Academy. More than a few people called them out on it, and Diego became a bit of a crusader as well, reporting comments, or typing angrily at people.

He may have had to get his keyboard fixed once or twice.

The channel was how he found out Klaus had even been nominated for a fucking _Oscar,_ let alone _won_ it. 

Except he then found out Allison didn't win one even though they worked on the same movie. Diego may not have seen it, but she had to be good. Diego, with no way of talking to them, partially because he still didn't feel right doing it, left a comment on Klaus' video. _'Congratulations, sorry those assholes are idiots_.' He figured he covered all his bases that way. 

Diego definitely didn't proceed to buy or rent every single move the two of them worked on, together or separately. 

He had been able to hide that was what he was doing for a while before Eudora caught on. 

"It's sweet that you're trying to keep in touch in your own... Diego way." She said, as they sat on the couch to watch a round of movies Allison starred in.

It wasn't long after this that he and Eudora broke up. It wasn't because of the sudden movie obsession like he had thought, but rather because he had come to her apartment covered in bruises, and with a bleeding gunshot wound.

He ran into Vanya a couple of times, said hello, some small talk, but they didn't really have much to talk about. He knew she was safe, and he was glad for it. He wasn't surprised she was in an orchestra.

And then, while jogging one morning, he spotted tabloid cover screaming about how Allison Hargreeves was engaged. That was a shock, if he was honest. If only because it was hard for him to think about any of his siblings other than Vanya doing something so perfectly normal.

In the weeks after he read the tabloid he got an invitation to the wedding. He was surprised, to say the least, figuring Klaus, and maybe even Allison, would be angry with him. He stuck it to his refrigerator so he wouldn't forget the date. 

Apparently the invite wasn't enough, however, because he got _multiple_ phone calls from Klaus. Diego got so fed up with it he didn't answer the phone on principle, let him sweat, he figured.

He didn't really think it through. Klaus was _so_ surprised when he actually showed up Diego almost felt bad for making him worry. He looked good, honestly, better than he expected, but his only frame of reference was one or two videos where he was on screen, and a couple of interviews. He was also surprised Allison wrangled Klaus into a suit.

And then they started talking. It was... good he guessed, getting a few things off his chest. Klaus seemed to feel hwt same way.

Diego rolled his eyes as Klaus hugged him after finding out he wasn't actually abandoned. Diego really should have known Klaus would have taken their fight more personally than he meant for it to. He probably should have cleared it up sooner, but he had still felt angry about the way things had been.

But he was glad Klaus, and even Allison, seemed to be doing well. He was happy for them.

He guessed. 

Probably.

He wasn't _not_ happy for them. 

He may have also made the decision to apply for a higher position at Al's gym. Mopping floors was great for his arms, but he could use extra income. 

He wasn't at all surprised when he got a job as a manager. Well the manager.

But it meant Diego could save up and afford a new apartment, and since the gym closed salt six he could still keep an ear out for any crimes.

At the end of his first shift Diego sorted through the mail, half of it Al's, half of it Diego's, including a small box with a bit of weight to it. He shook it to make sure it wasn't dangerous before tearing it open.

He was surprised to see Vanya's face gracing the cover.

"Extra-Ordinary: My Life as Number Seven." He read off the cover. He flipped it in his hand absently. He supposed he should read more, might as well make it Vanya's book. He didn't know what she had to write about, but if it insulted dad and Luther in anyway, he was in. 

He turned his radio on in case he was needed, and began reading.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Diego is an idiot, and a dork, and he's watched every single one of Klaus' YouTube videos at least twice.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Luther is sad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And our little foray into the Hargreeves siblings lives without Klaus and Allison is done.
> 
> These all take place vaguely between 2006 (when Klaus and Allison leave) and 2014 (when Vanya writes her book/post Allison's wedding). I'm not sure if I said that, and it feels a bit obvious, but yeah.

Luther had woken up one morning to find a folded up note slid under his door. He saw his name, written in Allison's hand writing, on the front. He opened it, and read it several times before it sunk in that she had left, and instead of saying goodbye properly, she left him a note. 

He was slow in getting dressed. He ran late but still managed to beat Klaus to the table. 

Except Klaus still hadn't shown up by the time dad came down, gesturing for them to sit. 

"Allison left, but where's Klaus?" Luther asked, wondering if he had stayed out late. He'd been doing that a lot lately. He wished he would get his act together, he was making the team look bad, and he was making himself all but useless when he took drugs. 

Vanya shifted in her seat, staring at her oatmeal.

"No talking at the table, Number One."

Luther sighed, prodding at his own bowl of oatmeal, nearly twice the size of Vanya's. 

"She took him with her." Vanya said softly, once breakfast was over.

"What? Why?" 

Vanya shrugged, walking back to her room. It wasn't long before the house was full of the sound of her violin.

For the year they were still living together he tried to get to know Vanya a bit better, since they were the only ones left. It was unfortunate that she was usually busy with her music, she was practicing a lot more recently, and he was busy with training and keeping in shape, so their schedules didn't mesh well enough to talk much, except during lunch. But things usually settled into an awkward silence.

While running up and down stairs for training one day, he heard banging and ran to see what was happening. 

He was surprised to see Vanya and Grace tearing down the wall between her and Klaus' bedroom. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, hello sweetie, we're giving Vanya a bit more room space!"

Luther felt a knot in his stomach. "What if Klaus comes back? He won't…" 

"He probably won't come back, you know how he is." Vanya said gently. "And I could use the extra space."

Luther sighed, gave them both a nod, and went back down to train. 

In the end, Vanya was right, Klaus didn't come back. Neither did Allison.

But then one day Vanya was gone, and she didn't come back either.

Things got very lonely. Enough so that Luther tried to go out on his own a few times, but he couldn't figure out how to even get a job, let alone find a house or apartment. 

"Don't be ridiculous, you wouldn't be able to live on your own. I'll never understand why your siblings decided to live their lives the difficult way." Their father had said when Luther asked about getting help moving out. 

"But I can still help you save the world from a few blocks away…" 

"Do you see your siblings running to help us? Number Two doesn't live very far." 

Luther deflated "No, sir."

"I'm surprised you want to follow the lead of your team after they abandoned us and the cause."

He hadn't thought of it like that. His siblings _did_ abandon them, him. They were supposed to save the world _together_ , and only Luther was left to do it.

"Go on, I'm very busy Number One."

Luther frowned, swallowing a lump in his throat, making his way around the house to find Pogo.

The days went by slowly, and they went by quickly. Some days felt like months, and some months felt like days, time just seemed to flow strangely. He tried to break his time up with training, or busying himself in the house, but the only excitement he got were missions. 

He'd go on walks, and he built up a steady supply of movies he could watch, and maybe some of them starred his sister. 

Some days he helped Grace in the kitchen, but she wasn't programmed to be as busy now that it was only him, dad, and Pogo. Other days he tried to help Pogo in his lab, but he was often in the way more than helpful.

On his way to get pizza one day, a treat for himself while Pogo and dad were away on business, he spotted a picture of Allison with a man, smiling brightly and wearing fancy wedding attire. He bought the magazine, but the article inside was brief, only mentioning the designer of her dress, and the venues she used. 

"Look, mom, Allison got married." Luther said, sitting at the kitchen table. He couldn't be bothered to hold back tears as he realized he'd been completely abandoned by his best friend, and by his siblings. 

"Oh she looks lovely, doesn't she? I hope your siblings visit soon, it gets a little lonely, doesn't it?" She said, booping his nose gently. 

"Why didn't she tell us?"

"Oh, sweetie, I'm sure she wanted to, but she's so very far away. She probably knew how important it was for you to stay here." She said. 

Luther looked at her, her face was all smiles like usual, but it looked pinched in a way he hadn't seen it before.

"Maybe." He agreed. 

Another day, in a long list of days, Pogo came to him, handing him an open box. "This came for you today, Master Luther."

Luther hadn't really gotten mail since the team started breaking up, and even then it was usually just fanmail. But inside was a book, Vanya's face peering up at him from the cover. 

"Thank you, Pogo... Maybe we could sit and read it together?" Luther asked, glancing down at the chimpanzee. 

Pogo sighed softly, and smiled "Of course, Master Luther." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still deciding on what I'm doing with the next part. I have chunks of it written, but I need to put those chunks together cohesively, so x3.


End file.
